...from suicide, and as well as hundreds from other injuries (NIAA). In today’s society we are presented with a real epidemic, underage drinking. As children grow older they are brought into different environments where they are presented with different obligations. Children bring alcohol into their lives to be cool or to fit in, but dying of alcohol poisoning leaves young people to fit into which group? Teenagers begin drinking as early as middle school or even sooner. (NLM) It is said that teens who drink are more likely to be victims of violent crimes. They are more likely to have serious problems in school. They are more likely to be involved in drinking and driving accidents. Children who start drinking young are also more likely to develop problems with alcohol later in life. With such a huge epidemic in underage drinking, why would law makers want to lower the legal age? Throughout the United States, most seventeen year olds receive their drivers’ license. Seventeen year olds are still in high school and still testing different waters; some of the “water” is alcohol. It is hard to believe, but 70 percent of all teenagers drink alcohol, and 60 percent of all teen deaths in car accidents are alcohol-related (Eagle). Most parents want to believe that when they hand their children the keys to the car, they won’t drink and drive. Many teens get "pulled in" by the overwhelming pressure to drink. In most cases, the driver does not realistically consider the consequences of his...
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...Today, the consumption of alcohol by anyone under the age of 21 is generally illegal across the United States; however, there are some states that have exceptions allowing underage consumption of alcohol in certain circumstances. Underage drinking is allowed if done on private premises with parental consent or for religious purposes. In Ruth Engs’ opinion, based upon her research, “as a nation we have tried prohibition legislation twice in the past for controlling irresponsible drinking problems. This was during National Prohibition in the 1920’s and State Prohibition during the 1850’s. These laws were finally repealed because they were unenforceable and because the backlash towards them caused other social problems. Today we are repeating history and making the same mistakes that occurred in the past. Prohibition did not work then and prohibition for young people under the age of 21 is not working now” (Engs). On many campuses around the country, led by the so-called Amethyst Initiative, the legal drinking age continues to be a controversial issue since it is believed that “twenty-one is not working” (Sanghavi). The old familiar argument is that turning 18 bestows the rights and responsibilities of adulthood such as voting, serving on juries, getting married, signing contracts, joining the military, buying cigarettes, watching porn and upon prosecution, trial as an adult. If adults from the age of 18 are trusted to do all of these things, they should also be trusted to make...
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...A 19 year-old straight “A” valedictorian with a full ride scholarship to a four year college who was taught since birth that she should never get anywhere near alcohol drops out of said college after only one years worth of attendance. Why did this happen? Because to the law an 18 year-old is an adult, but is not seen responsible enough to drink. She was never exposed to alcohol and because of that went absolutely crazy in college because of the taboo allure paired with peer pressure from other students that may not know the effects of alcohol. Alcohol should be entrusted to all adults, and as the law sees the age 18 as “adult” then that should be the cut off mark. This would have brought attention to the colleges that drinking may happen on...
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...Ethnicity Should racial profiling be a legitimate law-enforcement policy in some areas? Should Affirmative Action for state university enrollment be continued? Should the primary method of public school funding--property taxes in individual school districts--be amended to create more fairness in schools? Should high-school history classes and social-studies curriculum be changed to reflect diversity and multicultural perspectives? Should Christmas, Easter, and other religious observances be considered national holidays? If a university offers "African-American Studies" or "Black Studies" as courses, should it also offer "European-American Studies" or "White Studies"? How do certain television programs perpetuate racial or ethnic stereotypes? Should Columbus Day be discontinued in favor of a new post-colonial perspective? Should schools only purchase textbooks that offer revised or alternative histories of historical events? What should be done about racial disparities in the sentencing of criminals? Should the American government pay reparations and return land to Native Americans? Should hate groups have the right to distribute literature on university campuses? If research shows that certain racial or ethnic groups receive poorer medical care on average, how should this problem be corrected? Should governmental organizations have staffs that accurately reflect the racial, ethnic, and gender balance in society? Gender and Sexuality What should be done to eliminate...
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...psychological disorder in this country” (Bosse, et al. 746). This dated statistic illustrates just how long depression has been affecting the United States. Unfortunately, depression on college campuses is not uncommon, even during present times. This can mainly be attributed to a university being more focused on a saving a life, and not helping those who are struggling with mental illness. Several decades ago, depression was an epidemic that affected immeasurable amount of college students. Although, depression on college campuses has reduced, it still affects over half the student population. Even though the percentage of depressed college students has stabilized, it still marks a time to start understanding the factors that cause...
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...drink alcohol. You will find that many Colleges and Universities disagree with the legal drinking age. In fact, they believe that rising the drinking age has increased the amount of ‘binge’ drinkers and only made our countries drinking problems worse. Eighty-five percent of twenty year old Americans reported that they had used alcohol. (Johnson) Two out of five said they had binged within the previous month. To ‘binge,’ is to consume five or more drinks at one time. (Engs) “The period since the twenty-one minimum drinking age took affect has been marked by a shift from beer to hard liquor,” Seaman wrote in Time “consumed not in large social settings, since that is now illegal, but furtively and dangerously in students residences. In my reporting at colleges around the country, I did not meet any presidents or deans who felt the twenty-one year age minimum helps their efforts to curb the abuse of alcohol on their campuses.” (Balk) A kid is going to drink if he or she wants to regardless whether the law says eighteen or twenty-one. In an alcohol related situation you are more likely going to hear “I don’t drink, thank you,” than “I better not, I’m not 21 yet.” When colleges and University presidents disagree with the drinking age, something has got to be done. If the drinking age were changed to 18 years of age, colleges would be able to regulate alcohol use, so students would not become overly intoxicated. They believe that this would cut down on the number of college campus...
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...Guns on College Campus Should guns be allowed on college campus? Kenton L. McGowen Abstract This paper will determine whether guns have a place on college, and school campuses. The conclusion that the paper reaches is that students who have guns will be tempted to use them, especially at universities and colleges that are full of drug use, stress, and anxiety. The mixture of guns into a formula like that is simply not conducive to a safe environment. This paper will take evidence from experts, as well as state rulings to show the two sides of gun control in regards to school campuses in order to answer the question: Should guns be allowed on college campuses? The constitution of the United States guarantees our right to bear arms in order to defend ourselves, but where does the line fall where it is ok and not okay to carry weapons? The debate has shifted from restaurants, to stores, and now to schools. It is recently that the question has come up, should college campus students be allowed to have guns? The question is a safety issue and mostly centers around a need for the preservation of life on these campuses, and whether or not the guns are absolutely necessary to have. It has been spurred on by the recent slew of school shootings that have hit areas of the country, most notably Virginia Tech in 2006. There are valid argumentative points to both sides, however. As previously mentioned, the constitution of the United States guarantees...
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...Safety” Thesis: Guns should not be allowed on college campuses to keep suicide, homicide, and accidental death rates down. I. College students are roughly half as likely to kill themselves. a. Grayson and Meilman states that depressed students are less likely to commit suicide if they only have access to razors and pills (Grayson & Meilman, 2013). b. College students who are suicidal may be able to get the help they need instead of having easy access to handguns. c. Having handguns make it easier for depressed or suicidal students to end their misery. II. College campus homicide rate will rise significantly if students had easy access to handguns. d. There are many angry students who may want to pointlessly kill their peers (Grayson & Meilman, 2013). e. Troubled students who may want to retaliate can easily do so if they had CHL (concealed handgun licenses). f. Mentally ill students are also individuals that we have to pay more attention to if the ban on guns in school is lifted. III. The rate of accidental deaths are higher than college mass shooting rates (Grayson & Meilman, 2013). g. College students may be more careless when “showing” their handgun off to fellow classmates which could end up in an accidental shooting. h. There are many students who party hard and may not realize that they are handling a loaded weapon while they are under the influence of drugs and alcohol. i. It is very...
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...gannett.cornell.edu http://www.termpaperwarehouse.com 1. Hazing (subjecting newcomers to abusive or humiliating tricks and ridicule) has always been seen as a secretive campus activity when it comes to fraternities and pledging. As a result, Dr. Mark Taff resorted in his article that, "..a series of 168 cases of injuries and deaths related to fraternity hazing activities...[occurred] in the United States between 1923 and 1982" (2113). Young college men are being hospitalized and even worse, dying, just for a couple of friends that give them a sense of belonging. The major causes of hazing are the students' wanting a sense of belonging in a big college campus, the college's infrequent knowledge of what occurs in fraternities, and the unwillingness of fraternities to change tradition. Since hazing has been around for more than a century, one cannot expect the practice of hazing to stop all together. It will probably take years before hazing perishes from the fraternity scene. Nevertheless, until an end is put to hazing, solutions can be used to make hazing less common, until it no longer exists. These solutions that may be able to put an eventual stop to hazing, in the long run, are better education about fraternity hazing, stricter laws to prevent hazing from occurring, and more intervention from college administrators. Stories of hazing incidents are all too common in the news media today. It would not be out of the ordinary, upon opening the newspaper, to read the testimony...
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...As you read this sentence, someone is being raped on an American college campus. Imagine for a moment if you weren’t reading this sentence, and instead being a victim of rape? The question makes anyone’s body shiver, yet it doesn’t cross our mind when our parents drop us to college that we are entering a world as wild as one can imagine. Our excitement and hope at this new stage in life is unexplainable, but while we are glooming with happiness our parents are entering an alarming state of unease, because we are not immune to the hidden danger of rape, and other sexual crimes that happen in our new found “comfort zone.” Every new day is an example of a college potentially mishandling the sexual assault of one of its students. While sex crimes are on the rise in America’s higher-education system, so does the institutions negligence. The purpose of this paper is to try and unravel the injustices and misconceptions of what...
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..._Last Name_ 1 First Name Last Name Instructor’s Name Name of Class 31 October 2014 (Change the date; keep it in this format) Rape Culture on College Campuses and Why it Prevails Rape has become a taboo topic. Sexual assault is sugar coated into something less disturbing and brutal than it actually is. But rape is rape: the act of male or female taking sexual control or dominance over a nonwilling participant. It does not matter whether or not people feels comfortable discussing the topic of rape. Uncomfortability does not make a problem disappear. It is possible that rape culture is ignored because no one knows a permanent solution for it. But not talking about it will not fix it. An environment where rape culture prevails is on college campuses. 1 in every 4 college students admit to being raped or sexually assaulted on campus, this number fails to include the thousands of rape victims whose stories are never heard. Rape culture prevails on college campus because only an estimated 35% of these victims’ abusers are dealt with. Of those, only an estimated 20 30% percent are dealt with severely. Colleges ignore the severity rape culture on campus because it is a problem that is extremely difficult to remedy, but ignoring a problem will not solve it. “Culture is vital to the human species, but some cultural patterns are destructive” (Herman 45). Rape culture occurs when a set of values or beliefs create an environment that is conducive to rape. Rape culture does not refer to an actual place or setting...
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...Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered To 18? Every teenager anticipates the day that they will finally be eighteen years old. This is the day they are finally seen as being an adult in the eyes of our government. Eighteen year olds are now free to make their own life choices and be held accountable for them. At the age of eighteen, you are free to put your life on the line and fight for your country, if you commit a crime you can be tried as an adult in court, and you are also give the right to vote in your country. So, why should the drinking age be twenty-one years old when you are considered an adult at the age of eighteen? At the age of eighteen you are not mature and responsible enough to purchase and consume alcohol. Alcohol has been around for centuries, showcased at parties, bars, sports events and just about everywhere. For these very reasons every day in our country the drinking age is being ignored and violated by young adults, teenagers, and even children all under the age of twenty-one. “On average ninety-five percent of those who will be alcohol consumers in their lifetime take their first drink before the age twenty one. Fifty percent of eighteen to twenty year olds consume alcohol on a regular basis” (McCardell 1). Based on these statistics we can conclude that the enforcement of the legal drinking age has fallen short. The most commonly known place where alcohol is consumed very heavily is on our college campuses. Many college students participate in binge...
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...I. Credit card companies should not be on campus marketing to college students College kids and credit cards have been news lately, following a June 1999 report by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) that blasted card issuers for luring unsuspecting students into debts. Sociologist Robert Manning, the author of the CFA study, was quoted in a Reuter’s story as saying: “The unrestricted marketing of credit cards on college campuses is so aggressive that it now poses a greater threat than alcohol or sexually transmitted diseases.” Most news stories took cues from Manning and touted the risks of credit cards on cash for students. By National On-Campus Reports, 6/15/2005, Vol. 33 Issue 12, p 34-35. II. Credit card companies target college students into applying. The now commons practice of card companies’ offering students credit cards is being portrayed as a way to lure students into an addiction to pilling on debt they can’t handle. Banks have become more aggressive and creative on luring college students to apply for credit credit cards. College students have been targets to banks for years because he or she does not have any financial obligations. Most of the nation's major credit card issuers are aggressively marketing unsecured credit to students (in their own name) through advertising, direct mail promotions and on-cam-pus recruitment, with giveaways like compact disks, mugs, candy bars, calculators, sunglasses, credit card-sponsored concerts, discounts on airfares...
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...Jake Laino Laura Bruch 3/24/2013 Argumentative research paper Why Not Change the Drinking Age Back to 18? In the United States of America you are considered a legal adult at the age of 18 years old. You have all the major rights of a fully grown adult, voting, enlisting in the military, buying a house, buying tobacco products and many more. However there is one right that was taken away from the 18 year old adult back in 1984. In 1984 the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was put into place which changed the legal minimum drinking age from 18 years old to 21. Does this law mean that you are not really a mature adult until you are 21 or should the drinking age be brought back down to 18 when you receive all the other rights of a mature adult. It makes perfect sense that this right should be returned to young adults for plenty of reasons and also holds potential solutions to one of the nation’s biggest alcohol related problems. What does it mean to be an adult? United States law states that you are legally considered an adult at the age of 18. It makes sense right? You can buy a house, enlist in the U.S. military, get married and loads of other rights you don’t have until the age of 18. But United States law also states that all states must enforce a legal minimum drinking age of 21. We are the only major nation to have such a high drinking age. The drinking age wasn’t always this high though. On July 17th 1984 the national minimum drinking age act was passed which meant...
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...21: A Time For Change In the United States, it is illegal to buy or consume alcoholic beverages until the age of twenty-one. The United States is one of four other countries with a drinking age of twenty-one or higher. The other three are Indonesia, Mongolia and Palau (Gillespie). The government does not trust anybody under the age of twenty-one to consume alcohol but trusts them to die and kill for them. They also grant 18 year olds the right to marry, vote, pay taxes, take out loans, adopt a child and buy tobacco. The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) should be lowered to eighteen to match the other responsibilities an eighteen year old is granted. The drinking age has been debated throughout history. Many states set the drinking age to eighteen to match the responsibilities given to them at that age after prohibition was ended. These ages were only raised because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 put into effect by Ronald Reagan. If the states did not agree to this, they were cut back ten percent in their federal highway funds (Devon). The federal government states they give the right to control the drinking age to the state government. This does not make sense since they would cut back ten percent of their highway fund for just thinking about lowering the drinking age, which no state could survive without (Jolley). The supporters of the twenty- one drinking age believe that it has saved many lives. This is true to some degree. The deaths...
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